1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image storage device and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patent document 1 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-149672), entitled “AV Content Automatic Summarization System and AV Content Automatic Summarization Method,” discloses a method in which the content of a scene is grasped by using a sound recognition or image recognition technique and the grasped content is used for automatic recording of AV content or as a clue in searching for an image.
Patent document 2 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-62883), entitled “Information Processing Device,” discloses a method in which by using a special device that is a sensor for measuring a user's eye movement, the user's interest is recognized and thereby a highlight scene is specified.
Patent document 3 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-224791), entitled “Video Search Method and Device,” discloses a method in which feature values are extracted in advance from video which is a check target, a table of the feature values and times is created, and then a search is performed, whereby a replay is recognized.
The patent document 3 describes that using information that represents the average color of the entire frame image and the like by several bytes as the feature values, information that represents the average color of the entire frame image and the like by several bytes is used.
For video image searching, patent document 4 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-21597) discloses a device for searching a video image which completely matches a search target frame image.
Patent document 5 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-51300) discloses a method of performing edits after a highlight scene is detected.
In the method of the patent document 1, there are many candidates for a sound recognition algorithm or an image recognition algorithm, and thus the recognition accuracy of a scene varies depending on which algorithm is selected. In addition, variations occur in the functionality of a device that performs a recognition, depending on which sound recognition or image recognition technique is used. Furthermore, there are a recognizable scene and an unrecognizable scene depending on the sound recognition or image recognition technique, which may impair usability for a user.
In addition, the sound recognition or image recognition technique may perform a wrong recognition and thus misdetection or search omission of a scene may occur.
In the method of the patent document 1, since a data dependency in processing steps is high, the adoption of a multiple process is difficult and thus it is difficult to increase speed.
In the method of the patent document 1, since the workload varies depending on the properties of an image to be inputted, hardware design is difficult.
In the case of using the method of the patent document 1, it is difficult to develop a sound recognition algorithm or an image recognition algorithm having performance which satisfies the user.
When, as in the patent document 2, a highlight scene is specified by using a special sensor, it is a lot of trouble to operate the special sensor and only when the user is watching a scene, scene analysis and indexing process are performed.
For example, the telop characters “Replay” may be inserted in a replay scene, or the telop characters “CM” may be inserted in a screen. A replay may be performed in slow motion. In the patent document 3, a method of dealing with such processes on replay scenes is not considered. When a replay scene is processed, the feature values change and it becomes difficult to perform collation.
In the patent document 3, by selection of the feature values or algorithm used for recognition, the performance of recognition is affected.
In the patent document 3, image data is treated by the feature value. Thus, for example, when an algorithm for extracting the feature values is changed, e.g., when a new algorithm for extracting the feature values is updated to improve performance, there is a need to exclude past image data from a search target or to process all stored image data again with the changed algorithm for extracting the feature values.
The patent document 4 does not at all describe the extraction of a highlight scene or the storing of the highlight scene.
In the patent document 5, the object is to cut a commercial and there is no description of the detection or storing of a highlight scene.
The patent documents 1 to 5 do not at all describe the increase in speed or efficiency obtained by a multiple process on image data.